INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 39 



shown to it, it drooped its wi-ngs, after having 

 attempted to get at it, kept its eyes fixed upon it, 

 and in this attitude died. 



Not unfrequently an attachment springs up be- 

 tween birds in a domesticated state and animals 

 with which they are associated. A remarkable 

 instance is related of a goose, which attached her- 

 self so much to a house-dog by whom her life had 

 been accidentally saved, that she constantly kept 

 company with him, forsaking her natural allies 

 and even placing her eggs in his kennel; and. 

 when he fell ill, refusing to leave him, even to 

 procure food. 



A pleasing anecdote is related by Mr. Jesse, 

 about a cat and a jay. The bird had been intro- 

 duced into one of the wards of a hospital, for the 

 purpose of amusing the patients. One day a cat 

 chanced to go into the ward with a mouse in her 

 mouth. One of the attendants took the mouse 

 from the cat and gave it to the jay, who pecked 

 the fur from it, and then ate it. The next day, to 

 the surprise of every one, pussy brought another 

 mouse into the ward, went up to the jay's cage, 

 and gave it him, and so she continued daily to do 

 for many weeks. At length the poor captive bird 

 died, but, for three days after, the cat came to the 

 cage with a mouse in her mouth. 



The social nature in birds is undoubtedly one 



